Ernst Vohsen

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Ernst Vohsen (born April 19, 1853 in Mainz , † June 1919 in Bad Nauheim ) was a German consul , authorized representative of the German-East African Society (DOAG) and publisher .

Life

After graduating from high school and one year of military service, Ernst Vohsen went to Paris to work for a grain business. At the same time he attended lectures on economics at the Conservatoire Des Arts et Metiers . Through contact with Friedrich Bohn , who was involved in the management of a large French colonial company in Marseille , Vohsen was employed by the Compagnie Francaise Du Senegal et de la Cote Occidentale l'Afrique in 1875. In 1876 he went to Sierra Leone and worked in the local trading post on the Rio Nunez . When a yellow fever epidemic broke out in Freetown in 1877, killing most of the civil servants there, Vohsen stepped in and took over the management of the company, which employed several hundred people and had an influence far across the African interior. In 1881 he was appointed the first German consul in Sierra Leone by imperial decree in order to promote German interests in this country.

In the autumn of 1887 Vohsen returned to Germany, where he studied Arabic and Swahili in the Oriental Seminary in Berlin . There he came into contact with the German East African Society and was the successor to Carl Peters . During this time, the uprising of the East African coastal population fell and after its suppression in August 1888 by the so-called Wissmann troop , the takeover of the coastal administration from Sultan Bargasch and in 1890 the conclusion of a contract with Sultan Khalifa ibn Said as the basis for the German takeover of the colony Rich.

For family reasons, Vohsen left the DOAG in 1891 and, through the mediation of DOAG supervisory board member Adelbert Delbrück, took over the geographical publishing company Dietrich Reimer (Reimer & Hoefer), whose owner Hermann Hoefer had to retire from the business for reasons of age. Since the bookselling activity was new territory for Vohsen, he managed the company from autumn 1891 to 1895 together with Hoefer.

Through his previous work, Vohsen directed the publishing house more towards colonial literature, which at that time was not very widespread in Germany. The geographical department was also expanded and supplemented with the establishment of an institute for colonial geography with corresponding publications. Finally, Vohsen also founded the cartographic department, which in particular produced colonial maps , special maps and - due to the requirements of the imperial naval office, which was gaining influence - nautical maps . Some of Vohsen's own writings as well as the research results of various expeditions co-organized and financed by Vohsen have also been published by Reimer & Hoefer.

Extra-professional engagement

In addition to his professional activities to Vohsen engaged with tangible articles in newspapers and magazines for German colonial interests, against the slave trade and for the protection of indigenous civilian population in the colonies as well as systematic Colonial closure - for example through the construction of railways . His points of view were partly controversial and not in keeping with the zeitgeist, but shaped by his personal experiences in Africa and a clear focus on economic interests. For example, he defended the acquisition of Heligoland in exchange for the abandonment of German interests in Zanzibar as part of the treaty between Germany and Great Britain on the colonies and Heligoland , as he had recognized the advantages of the mainland ports Tanga and Dar es Salaam through his experience in Sierra Leone - in contrast to the island location of the ports on Zanzibar. Elsewhere he campaigned for the construction of a railway from these ports to the African Great Lakes and for German involvement in the resource-rich Congo , although he also criticized the exploitation of the population and insisted on adherence to the principles laid down during the Congo Conference in Berlin. However, he received no official support for this, so that he converted the German Congo League , which he founded on the model of Edmund Dene Morel , into the German Society for the Protection of Indigenous People , which was active worldwide. The society pursued a humane treatment of the colonial population - in contrast to the ruthless exploitation, as it often happened - but he did not deny the role of the indigenous population in the production of colonial export goods. He also endeavored to reach an understanding between the European powers regarding Africa so that there was no danger of war from this side. Vohsen's hopes for a balance between the European powers and their interests in Africa, however, were not fulfilled.

Columbarium

He died during a cure in Bad Nauheim that he started because of his heart disease. He was buried in a columbarium at the Friedrichsfelde central cemetery in Berlin . His brother-in-law Karl von den Steinen , a doctor and explorer, is also buried in the family grave.

further activities

Vohsen was an important representative of the colonial idea in Germany and in this role was active in many bodies. Here is a selection of his activities:

  • Committee member of the German Colonial Society
  • Member of the Colonial Council and the Colonial Department of the Foreign Office .
  • Member of the Presidium of the German Fleet Association ,
  • Vice-President of the Main Association of German Fleet Associations Abroad,
  • Member of the " German Society for Islamic Studies "
  • Member of the "Congres Colonial International"
  • Director of the settlement company "Windhoek Farm Society"
  • Secretary of the Regional Studies Commission of the Reich Colonial Office
  • Member of the committee and chairman of the finance commission of the German Colonial Society
  • Founder of the Niger-Benue-Lake Chad Committee (1899) to finance the German Niger expedition under Bauer (see below)
  • Founder of the magazine "Koloniale Rundschau", 1909

In 1897 the Foreign Office sent him to Paris as Commissioner of the German Government, where he was a co-signatory of the Togo Agreement on the definition of the border with France.

Expeditions supported by Vohsen

Vohsen organized or raised funding for the following expeditions:

Writings and publications

  • On the German-English Treaty , Berlin, 1890
  • A colonial program for East Africa , Verlag F. Fontane, Berlin, 1891
  • On the East African sea railway issue , Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin, 1911
  • Germany and the Congo State , Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin, 1908

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Vohsen, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German consul and publisher
DATE OF BIRTH April 19, 1853
PLACE OF BIRTH Mainz
DATE OF DEATH June 1919
Place of death Bad Nauheim